GM autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise nabs $1.15B investment

Dan Ammann, right, now CEO of Cruise, stands with Cruise Automation co-founders Kyle Vogt, center, and Daniel Kan, in a photo from 2016 when GM announced it was acquiring the autonomous vehicle startup. (Photo: GM)

Cruise Automation, the autonomous vehicle startup acquired
by General Motors (NYSE:
GM) in 2016, has secured an equity investment of $1.15 billion that values
the company at $19 billion. The group of institutional investors included
parent GM along with funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates and
existing partners SoftBank Vision Fund and Honda.

“Developing and deploying self-driving vehicles at massive
scale is the engineering challenge of our generation,” said Cruise CEO Dan Ammann. “Having deep
resources to draw on as we pursue our mission is a critical competitive
advantage.”

Cruise has now raised $7.25 billion in the last year, it
said. The company, based in San Francisco, has grown from 40 employees to more
than 1,000. It was founded in 2013. It continues to say it will launch an
autonomous electric vehicle sometime this year.

GM acquired the company for more than $1 billion. When it
acquired Cruise, GM noted the company’s strong push to develop and test autonomous
vehicle technology.

“Cruise provides our company with a unique technology
advantage that is unmatched in our industry. We intend to invest significantly
to further grow the talent base and capabilities already established by the
Cruise team,” said Mark Reuss, GM executive vice president of Global Product
Development, Purchasing and Supply Chain.

The push is part of GM’s plan to reinvent itself for the
future of mobility and includes a strategic alliance with ride-sharing company
Lyft; and the formation of Maven, a personal mobility brand for car-sharing
fleets.

In April 2017, GM announced it would invest $14 million in a
research and development facility for Cruise in San Francisco, adding more than
1,100 jobs in the process.

“Expanding our team at Cruise Automation and linking them
with our global engineering talent is another important step in our work to
redefine the future of personal mobility,” said GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra.
“Self-driving technology holds enormous benefits to society in the form of
increased safety and access to transportation. Running our autonomous vehicle
program as a start-up is giving us the speed we need to continue to stay at the
forefront of development of these technologies and the market applications.”

Cruise Automation and GM engineers are testing more than 50
Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles with self-driving technology on public roads
in San Francisco; Scottsdale, Arizona; and metro Detroit.

In 2017, GM acquired Strobe, a LIDAR technology company, and
put its engineering talent under the Cruise division.

“Strobe’s LIDAR technology will significantly improve the
cost and capabilities of our vehicles so that we can more quickly accomplish
our mission to deploy driverless vehicles at scale,” said Kyle Vogt at the
time. Vogt co-founded Cruise Automation and serves as the company’s president
and chief technology officer.

LIDAR uses light to create high-resolution images that
provide a more accurate view of the world than cameras or radar alone.

In November 2018, GM took another step forward in its
management of Cruise by appointing Ammann as CEO. Ammann was president of GM
before moving over to Cruise where he is working alongside Vogt. Ammann led
GM’s acquisition of Cruise.

“I’m excited to dedicate 100 percent of my time and energy
to helping Kyle and the entire team realize our mission of deploying this
technology at scale,” said Ammann.

Brian Straight covers general transportation news and leads the editorial team as Managing Editor. A journalism graduate of the University of Rhode Island, he has covered everything from a presidential election, to professional sports and Little League baseball, and for more than 10 years has covered trucking and logistics. Before joining FreightWaves, he was previously responsible for the editorial quality and production of Fleet Owner magazine and fleetowner.com. Brian lives in Connecticut with his wife and two kids and spends his time coaching his son’s baseball team, golfing with his daughter, and pursuing his never-ending quest to become a professional bowler.